I was impressed by Sam Rockwell’s performance in the 2009 Sc-fi classic Moon.

Early on in the story, the logo (and the name) of Sam’s employer Lunar Industries reminded me of Litton Industries:

Granted, they’re not identical, but that’s what came to mind.

The likeness (or otherwise) may not be entirely coincidental. After-all, a division of Litton Industries, Litton Space Systems, designed space suits and other equipment for NASA.

Space exploration was, of course, a popular marketing theme for “space age” electronic typewriters of the 1980s and 1990s, as exemplified by the French ad below, which was one of a series released by Brother (as opposed to Luna or Litton) Industries in 1988 and 1989 …

Brother WP-1 Word Processor ad, 1988 (above) from my collection

~

AEG Olympia followed suit around the same time …

AEG Olympia Badge (above) from my collection

~

Alas, AEG Olympia failed to go “beyond” the year 1997. NASA’s Space Shuttle programme lasted longer, up until 2011— eight years after the Colombia Shuttle disaster of 2003.

There are, needless to say, no electronic typewriter sightings in Moon, which is a movie made (and set) long after the wedge apocalypse of the early 1990s.

According to my 1986-87 Edition 9 of the German Office Equipment catalogue Info-Markt Ratgeber, the CE-70 has a top speed of 15 cps, which puts it on a par (speed-wise) with larger Brother (CE 550, CE 650, CE 700) compact electronic typewriters.

The same reference also tells me the CE-70 was first manufactured in 1983 …

I’ve mentioned before the overlap between portable and compact typewriter categories. Sure enough, the lower spec and lower speed (13 cps) Brother CE-50/51 and Brother CE-60/61 machines (1983) are listed as “portable” in Info-Markt Ratgeber Edition 5 of 1984-1985. This despite them having the same maximum writing width and paper width as the Brother CE 68 (1984) and the CE 70 (1983), which are listed as “compact”.

Allowing for a few errors and inconsistencies between the different editions of the Info-Markt catalogs (which are nevertheless an invaluable reference), platen width is clearly not the only factor when determining category.

The lower spec, lower-speed CE-30, for example, is bigger than my AX-10 portable electronic typewriter, yet it does not have the features that would qualify it for “compact” status.

Even though it takes the same larger, higher capacity, ribbon cartridge used in other CE-series machines, it’s just light enough to be classed as a portable (and it has a carrying handle) …

Brother’s tabbed print wheels are the same size on all models. Indeed, it’s the consistency in the design and the quality of Brother electronic typewriters in all three categories that puts them ahead of their competitors. (Look at the portables, compacts, and full size machines produced by Silver Reed, for example, and you’ll see a distinct lack of consistency in terms of both their design and their quality.)

No need to explain why Brother (and this 1984 CE-70 typewriter) are still going strong.

No instruction guide as yet, however a Quick Reference “Operating Guide” tucked underneath the front of the keyboard is better than nothing …

You only have to lift the CE-70 (or check out the advertising from the time of its release) to know it’s not a portable machine.

It’s classy, very classy indeed …

… and comes with an abundance of functions …

… which, without an instruction guide, I’m presently unable to elaborate on. Impact control is hinted at on the LCD screen …

I also haven’t figured out (it’s not obvious) where and how to attach the clip-on auxiliary paper guide …

A future instruction guide and a follow-up post will hopefully explain all. 🙂

Big Brother may be watching me, but I’ve also been watching Big Brother. In my case, big electronic office typewriters listed for sale in online auctions around the world. I haven’t come across any of these in the wild as yet.

~

Standards

The first standard typewriter to roll off the Brother production line was the Brother EM-1.

Goodness gracious great balls o’ type, who would have thought there were so many golf ball typewriter variants?

IBM were keen to develop and maintain a strong presence in Japan (a case of keeping your friends close, and your enemies closer). It’s hardly surprising then, that the most Selectric-like of all the Selectric clones is a Japanese one …

Good news: Searching on the French boule rather than the German kugelkopf, reaped the reward of my fifth interchangeable spherical print element or “golf ball”…

The Fifth Element

For some reason, getting my hands on a T-A Royal “golf ball” proved just as difficult as finding one of these …

The Fourth Element

~

This idiosyncratic fourth element has been much sought after by Taylor Harbin, myself, and other collectors. In this instance, searching on the Italian testina sfera (“ball head”) came up trumps.

The golf balls Olivetti made for their more compact Lexikon electric typewriters are also scarce. I had to buy a non-working Lexikon 82 in order to get my hands on my third element …

The Third Element

~

Easier to come by, at least for me, was this one …

The Second Element

~

Brother, Silver Reed, and Juki were alone among the Japanese manufacturers, I think, in adapting IBM’s “golf ball” technology as an alternative to the daisy wheel.

NEC and Panasonic dabbled briefly with print thimbles, and IBM were happy to deny the daisy wheel its existence, clinging onto their Selectrics for as long as was humanly possible (and profitable).

The First Element

~

This first element is, of course, the one that started the ball rolling (pun intended). Not counting the drums and cylinders used on early index typewriters and teletype machines, the IBM Selectric golf ball is the first in chronological order. The order in which subsequent others came onto the market goes something like this: